California Supreme Court Decision Re 21-Day Rule

[mike1127]

My question involves a security deposit in the State of: CA

I'm suing my LL for (1) not providing a refund of the security deposit within 21 days (2) never providing an itemized list of charges or receipts (3) attempting to withhold money for "normal wear and tear" items like painting and replacing carpet when I had lived in the place for eight years.

There was a CA supreme court decision a while back that said that tenants who don't receive any refund within 21 days are entitled to get the entire amount back. Can someone help me find the text of that decision? I know there are searchable databases but I don't know how to find and use them.

Thanks,
Mike

[Mr. Knowitall]

The rule is that if the landlord doesn't follow the security deposit law, the landlord cannot retain the security deposit under the statute - but that doesn't mean that the landlord can't countersue you for damages you actually caused. So exactly what rule is it that you're hoping to find?

[mike1127]

I'm not looking for a rule; I'm looking for the text of a CA Supreme Court decision. Yes, the decision also stated the LL can countersue.

[BOR]

I'm not looking for a rule; I'm looking for the text of a CA Supreme Court decision. Yes, the decision also stated the LL can countersue.

Go to library where they have the CA Code. It does not have to be a law library. The main branch of your public library maybe of your county seat, or call around.

Look up the section on this 21 day rule law and there will be "case law annotations" after it.

It will probably be listed but it may only provide a summary/syllabus though. To find the whole case it can be searched for on the computer by name or at a law library.

[SChinFChin]

I don't know about the CA Supreme Court, but this link seems to confirm the 21 day rule, and what is involved:

http://www.dca.ca.gov/publications/l...-deposit.shtml

[mike1127]

By the way, the reason I phrased that as "the tenant gets the entire security deposit back" (which wasn't clear, I admit) is that the LL must return the entire thing, _then_ countersue. And some LL's don't bother to countersue. I found cases on the internet in which the LL returned the whole thing and just let the matter go.

[DavidForthoffer]

There was a CA supreme court decision a while back that said that tenants who don't receive any refund within 21 days are entitled to get the entire amount back. Can someone help me find the text of that decision?

I searched Google Scholar of all California cases for the exact phrase "21 days" and each of the following words: deposit tenant

I got 6 hits. None of them were for the California Supreme Court.

Try different search criteria yourself.